Chris Wilson, engineering manager for Morrison Container Handling Solutions, which has been manufacturing timing screws, change parts, drive units and storage units since 1971, believes in the potential of Puma’s Certified Trainer program. “After 11 of our staff members attended the training class in January, we created a training team to implement the training program within our company,” Wilson says. “We’ve had several training group meetings since January, but it’s still very much a work in progress.”

As the packaging industry expands and machinery gets more complex, consistent, effective training becomes an important issue for manufacturers.

Wilson’s group is addressing this need by developing a standardized approach for Morrison’s training force, focused on consistent methods for consistent results.

“[The Certified Trainer program] gives you the tools you need to create a common approach for training that everyone in the company can use,” he says. “We want to be sure that we are all on the same page, both internally and out in the field.

“The program offers great information and great tools to make your training team more professional, and to give them additional training tools,” Wilson adds.

Morrison has also made good use of the up-front contracts recommended by the Certified Trainer program. “The partnership agreement lays out what we need from our customers to make the training session successful, and what we’re going to do for our customers.” Wilson notes. “It’s a very effective tool.”

Once Morrison’s internal training program is more developed, Wilson says that he hopes to turn the program into a source of revenue. “We’d like to turn our training program into a profit center for the company,” Wilson says.